Speedometer died - Help

'98 3.2 TL. This car is garaged, babied and only has 62K While
accelerating on the freeway, the speedometer suddenly froze at 48 MPH. I
backed off to see if it would kick in, but it continued to rise to 48 and
stop. The odometer was still accurate and the speedometer functioned
normally, below 48 MPH. After maybe 400 miles, the situation deteriorated
and the entire unit went dead.

I called the Acura agency and wasn't surprised to get virtually no help,
since my car is an antique to them. "Sure, bring it in (we'll bend you over
for several hundred dollars)." I couldn't even get a straight answer about
what makes it tick. Does it have a cable, a brain, or both? The service
"specialist" didn't know (it's too old) and didn't feel like looking it up.
I've since been told it has both.

I'm a pretty good wrench, but I'm old school, so I don't know much about
today's plastic, multi-brain-operated cars. Out of curiosity, I tried to
remove the instrument panel. I got the obvious screws and learned that the
entire face panel, including the left and center AC vents comes out as one
unit, with clips at each end. However, something is keeping it from popping
out and I can't find it. To prevent damaging anything, I stopped right
there. Either there's another clip, or screw, or something, in the
bottom/center of the cluster, but I'm overcome with fear of snapping
something plastic and turning a bummer into a disaster. Has anyone removed
this unit, or have a shop manual that would identify the missing link?

TIA for any assistance.

I can't answer your questions but you might consider getting yourself a GPS
unit. Mine cost under $200 for example and toggles to a trip info screen
which displays MPH, and odometer and lots more trip info. Not a perfect
solution but it could at least be a temporary fix and still useful
regardless even if you get your speedo fixed/replaced.


"uncle k" <nospam RemoveThis @all.com> wrote in message
news:3sadnQHzEJAzxCHVnZ2dnUVZ_sjinZ2d@earthlink.com...
> '98 3.2 TL. This car is garaged, babied and only has 62K While
> accelerating on the freeway, the speedometer suddenly froze at 48 MPH. I
> backed off to see if it would kick in, but it continued to rise to 48 and
> stop. The odometer was still accurate and the speedometer functioned
> normally, below 48 MPH. After maybe 400 miles, the situation deteriorated
> and the entire unit went dead.
>
> I called the Acura agency and wasn't surprised to get virtually no help,
> since my car is an antique to them. "Sure, bring it in (we'll bend you
> over for several hundred dollars)." I couldn't even get a straight answer
> about what makes it tick. Does it have a cable, a brain, or both? The
> service "specialist" didn't know (it's too old) and didn't feel like
> looking it up. I've since been told it has both.
>
> I'm a pretty good wrench, but I'm old school, so I don't know much about
> today's plastic, multi-brain-operated cars. Out of curiosity, I tried to
> remove the instrument panel. I got the obvious screws and learned that
> the entire face panel, including the left and center AC vents comes out as
> one unit, with clips at each end. However, something is keeping it from
> popping out and I can't find it. To prevent damaging anything, I stopped
> right there. Either there's another clip, or screw, or something, in the
> bottom/center of the cluster, but I'm overcome with fear of snapping
> something plastic and turning a bummer into a disaster. Has anyone
> removed this unit, or have a shop manual that would identify the missing
> link?
>
> TIA for any assistance.
>
>
>